Drawer with drawer slide quick-release mechanism

ABSTRACT

A drawer and drawer slide combination which incorporates a spring clip for providing a quick-release mechanism between the drawer ( 1 ) and drawer slide ( 17 ) is disclosed. Thd spring clip ( 25 ) is secured to an inner slide member ( 19 ) of the drawer slide ( 17 ) and is formed of a spring material and has an inwardly extending latching projection ( 29 ) which engages with a vertically extending latching surface ( 13 ) provided in a recess ( 11 ) at the front side edge of the drawer, said recess ( 11 ) being provided by securing a drawer front ( 7 ) to the front of the drawer ( 1 ) in spaced relationship thereto. In order to provide vertical latching between the drawer and drawer slide, apertures ( 15 ) are provided in the rear face of drawer front ( 7 ) which are engaged by locating tongues ( 23 ) projecting from the front edge of the inner member ( 19 ) of the drawer slide.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not applicable

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not applicable

REFERENCE TO A “SEQUENCE LISTING”

Not applicable

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a drawer and drawer slide incorporating aquick-release mechanism between the drawer slide and the drawer.

2. Background Art

Nowadays, office furniture and the like which incorporates one or moredrawers normally has each drawer mounted within a frame by means of apair of drawer slides so as to reduce friction and hence, wear betweenthe drawer and the frame. Drawer slides are well known and comprise atleast two longitudinally extending members, slidable relative to oneanother, there usually being a plurality of ball bearings arrangedbetween the two relatively slidable members, one of which is secured tothe frame and the other to the drawer. It is preferred that some form ofreleasable coupling is provided so that the drawer can simply be removedfrom the frame and furthermore, so that the drawers are easily assembledwithin the frame.

A quick-release connecting clip of the above type is known in which adeformed spring steel clip has one end connected by riveting to theslide, and the other, kinked end terminates in a step so as to provide aprojecting nose engageable within an aperture in the side wall of thedrawer. This aperture in the side wall is spaced somewhat rearwardlyfrom 20 the front of the side wall. This construction of connecting clipsuffers from the disadvantage that it is made of spring steel and has tobe pre-connected to the slide. Furthermore, because of the constructionof the clip, it is possible for the clip to become disengaged from theaperture within the side wall of the drawer when, for example, thedrawer is opened quickly and reaches the end of its travel. If thedrawer is full of papers, it will be extremely heavy and substantialforces will be borne by the clip, which can cause the clip to deform andbecome disengaged from the drawer.

In another known arrangement, two clips are provided, one being locatedbetween the drawer front and front of the drawer slide to provide avertical latch, and one between the 30 top of the slide and the drawerto provide a fore and aft latch. Such a double clip arrangement has itsobvious disadvantages.

In our European Patent Application No. 99305264.6, we disclose a quickrelease connection in which a clip having a projection thereon is biasedinto engagement with an aperture so that the projection provides bothfore-and-aft and vertical latching between the drawer and an inner slidemember of one (or both) of the drawer slides.

The present invention seeks to provide an improved design of drawerslide and drawer, with a quick-release mechanism between the drawerslide and drawer, which is very simple to manufacture and fit, and isthus inexpensive.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention, we provide a drawer and drawer slidecombination incorporating a quick-release mechanism between the drawerslide and drawer, the combination comprising a drawer, at least onedrawer slide comprising at least two slide members slidable relative toone another, an external one of said members being connectable to aframework and an inner one of said members being connectable to thedrawer and a clip having a fixing part by means of which it may beconnected to one of the inner slide member and the drawer, and alatching part having a projection thereon for engagement with a recesshaving a latching surface extending normal to the sliding directions ofthe drawer, said recess being located in the other of the inner slidemember and the drawer, the latching part being moveable between a firstposition in which the projection engages with the recess to connect thedrawer to the inner slide member and a second position in which it isdisengaged from the recess to allow disconnection of the drawer from theinner slide member, and wherein at least one locating tongue extendsbetween a front end of the inner slide member and a front of the drawerand engages within an aperture in that one of the inner slide member andfront of the drawer from which the at least one locating tongue does notproject, to provide vertical latching and horizontal latching transverseto the sliding directions of the drawer, between the drawer and theinner slide member.

In one construction, the clip is formed of two separate parts, onecomprising the fixing part, and the other comprising the latching part,which may be spring loaded; in this construction, co-operating means areprovided on each part to assist in holding them together in use, withthe spring bias to the latching part being provided by a leaf springportion on the fixing part, and the latching part being held inposition, in use, by being sandwiched between the fixing part and theone of the inner slide member and the drawer to which the fixing partmay be connected.

In another construction, the clip is a single moulded part whichpreferably incorporates a spring bias to the latching part provided bymoulding the latter in a material which is resiliently deformable with aset, whereby when relaxed, it will take up its first position.

Preferably, the at least one locating tongue is located on a front edgeof the inner slide member and engages within an aperture provided in arear face of a drawer front. More preferably, two vertically spacedlocating tongues are provided on the front edge of the inner slidemember, each engaging in one of a pair of co-operating, verticallyspaced apertures in a rear face of the drawer front.

Preferably, the drawer front is secured to a front of the drawer suchthat it is spaced a short distance from the front of the drawer, thusleaving a space between the front of the drawer and the rear of thedrawer front, at each side edge of the drawer slide, which spacesprovide recesses on each side of the drawer, with which a projection ona clip provided on each side of the drawer engages.

Preferably hook means is provided at a rear end of the slide whichengages with a rear end of the drawer to prevent relative up and downmovement between the drawer and slide at the rear of the drawer.

Preferably, there are means on or able to act on the latching part toenable the part to be moved between its first and second positions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

A preferred embodiment of the present invention is now described, by wayof example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a front corner of a drawer having adrawer front (but no drawer slide);

FIG. 2 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 1, but showing the drawerslide in position and disconnected from the drawer (with part of theslide broken away);

FIG. 3 is a perspective view similar to that of FIG. 2, but showing theslide connected to the drawer; and

FIG. 4 is a partly schematic plan view, showing how the drawer isconnected to the drawer slide.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, a drawer 1, which may be formed ofsteel, plastics or other material, has a side wall 3 and a front wall 5.A drawer front 7 is connected to the front wall 5, in spacedrelationship thereto, by a spacer member 9, the width of which issomewhat less than that of the drawer, so as to leave a recess 11 at thefront of the drawer, at each side thereof. A front face of the drawerdefines a vertical latching surface 13 in 15 said recess 11. Twoapertures 15 are provided in the rear face of the drawer front 7.

As can be seen from FIG. 2, the drawer 1 is designed for use within acarcase or framework, e.g. of a desk (not shown) and is located forsliding movement therein by a drawer slide 17 located on each side ofthe drawer 1. As is well known in the art, a drawer slide has two orthree relatively slidable drawer slide members, the drawer slide in FIG.2 having only an inner drawer slide member 19 connected to the side wall3 of the drawer, and an outer drawer slide member 21, for connection tothe carcase or framework (not shown). When the drawer 1 and drawer-slide17 are assembled together, they are held in close side-by-siderelationship by virtue of a tongue on the rear end of the drawer slide17 engaging in an aperture provided in the rear of the drawer, and bymeans of two projecting locating tongues 23 on the front of the innerslide member 19 engaging in the apertures 15 in the drawer front 7. Notonly do these tongues 23 hold the slide 17 against lateral movement awayfrom the drawer 1, they also prevent relative vertical movement betweenthe two.

In order to provide fore-and-aft latching between the drawer slide 17and the drawer 1, a spring clip 25 is connected to the inner slidemember 19. This clip may be generally of the construction disclosed inthe specification of our co-pending European Patent No. 99305264.6 witha fixing part by means of which it is connected to the slide member 19,a depending part 27 and a latching part 29 for engagement within therecess 11. The clip is designed so that when in a position of rest, thelatching part 29, which is in the form of a projection on the inner faceof the clip, will engage the latching surface of the recess 11, and byvirtue of the clip's connection, via its fixing part, to the slidemember 17, the drawer 1 will be held in latching engagement with thedrawer slide 17.

To assemble a drawer 1 with the drawer slide 17 and connect the twotogether, the spring clip 25 is first of all located within and attachedto the slide member 19 of the drawer slide 17, e.g. as disclosed in oursaid earlier European patent application. In practice, there will, ofcourse, be two drawer slides, one for each side of the drawer with therespective slide members 17 facing one another and each will be providedwith a spring clip 25 having its projection or latching part 29extending inwardly so as to project beyond the inside face of the slide.A drawer 1 is then placed over the two drawer slides and the front ofthe drawer 15is then connected to the drawer slides by pushing thedrawer downwards relative to the drawer slides and holding the twospring clips, by applying outward pressure to the depending parts 27 tohold the latching parts out of the way. When the drawer 1 is correctlylocated between the two slides 17, the two inner slide members 19 aremoved forwardly so as to engage the locating tongues 23 in therespective apertures 15 in the 20 drawer front 7, whereupon the springclips 25 can be released to allow their latching parts 29 to engagewithin the recesses 11. Then the rear end of the drawer can be attachedto the slides by causing the tongues on the rear of the slides to engagein the apertures provided for the purpose in the rear of the drawer.Once so engaged, it is important that the front end of each drawer slideis held closely alongside the side walls of the drawer 1 because, 25when the drawer is opened and is full, and the drawer slide reaches theforward most part of its extension capability, the momentum of a fulldrawer has to be absorbed almost completely by the spring clips 25. Ifthe slide member 19 of each drawer slide is held closely adjacent itsrespective drawer side wall, there is virtually no twisting of drawer 1relative to slide member 19 and this means that the forces acting on thespring clips due to 30 the momentum of a full drawer are taken almostcompletely as shear forces. This means that the spring clips can bemoulded from plastics material which is strong in shear, but not intwisting.

The above-described quick-release mechanisms are located at the veryfront of the drawer and the drawer slides. This means that when it isdesired to disconnect a drawer from its drawer slide, this is a verysimple operation by the user applying finger pressure to the portion 27on the lower end of the spring clip 25). This will move the clip againstits spring bias, thus moving the projecting latching part 29 out of therecess in the side of the drawer, thus allowing the tongues 23 to beremoved from the apertures 15 and allowing the drawer to be removed notonly from its slide but also from the framework in which the wholemechanism is located.

It is an important feature of the present invention that the latchingfaces on the latching parts 29 and in the recesses 11 in the side wallsof the drawer extend generally at right angles to the side walls of thedrawer. This means that when a drawer is opened or closed and suddenlystopped, the forces between the drawer and its drawer slides areaccommodated by these surfaces which are normal to the direction ofmovement of the drawer. This means that there is no twisting on thespring clips which would otherwise tend to cause them to becomedisengaged. This is a major advantage of the clips of the presentinvention over the first mentioned prior art clip described above.

Although the clips of the present invention are preferably of one piececonstruction and 20 moulded from plastics material, they could be formedof a springy metal and have alternative constructions, similar to thetwo piece construction disclosed in our said European patentapplication.

It will, of course, be understood that the present invention has beendescribed above purely 25 by way of example, and modifications of detailcan be made within the scope of the invention.

For example, instead of the tongues 23 projecting forwardly from theslide members 19, and engaging in the apertures 11, the apertures couldbe replaced by rearwardly extending 30 projections on the drawer frontwhich would engage within apertures in the front of the slide members19.

What is claimed is:
 1. A drawer and drawer slide combinationincorporating a quick-release mechanism between the drawer slide anddrawer, the combination comprising a drawer, at least one drawer slidecomprising at least two slide members slidable relative to one another,an external one of said members being connectable to a framework and aninner one of said members being connectable to the drawer and a cliphaving a fixing part adapted to be connected to one of the inner slidemember and the drawer, and a latching part having a projection thereonadapted to engage a recess having a latching surface extending normal tothe sliding directions of the drawer, said recess being located in theother of the inner slide member and the drawer, the latching part beingmoveable between a first position in which the projection engages withthe recess to connect the drawer to the inner slide member and a secondposition in which it is disengaged from the recess to allowdisconnection of the drawer from the inner slide member, and wherein atleast one locating tongue extends from one of a front end of the innerslide member and a front of the drawer and engages within an aperture inthe other of the inner slide member and front of the drawer to providevertical latching and horizontal latching transverse to slidingdirections of the drawer, between the drawer and inner slide member. 2.The combination as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one locatingtongue is located on a front edge of the inner slide member and engageswithin an aperture provided in a rear face of the drawer front.
 3. Thecombination as claimed in claim 2 wherein the drawer front is secured toa front of the drawer such that it is spaced a short distance from thefront of the drawer, thus leaving a space between the front of thedrawer and the rear of the drawer front at each side edge of the drawer,which spaces provide recesses on each side of the drawer with which aprojection on a clip provided on each side of the drawer engages.
 4. Thecombination as claimed in claim 3 including means on or able to act onthe latching part to enable the part to be moved between its first andsecond positions.
 5. The combination as claimed in claim 2, wherein twovertically spaced locating tongues are provided on the front edge of theinner slide member, each engaging in one of a pair of co-operating,vertically spaced, apertures in a rear face of the drawer front.
 6. Thecombination as claimed in claim 5 wherein the drawer front is secured toa front of the drawer such that it is spaced a short distance from thefront of the drawer, thus leaving a space between the front of thedrawer and the rear of the drawer front at each side edge of the drawer,which spaces provide recesses on each side of the drawer with which aprojection on a clip provided on each side of the drawer engages.
 7. Thecombination as claimed in claim 2 including means on or able to act onthe latching part to enable the part to be moved between its first andsecond positions.
 8. The combination as claimed in claim 1 wherein twovertically spaced locating tongues are provided on the front edge of theinner slide member, each engaging in one of a pair of co-operating,vertically spaced, apertures in a rear face of the drawer front.
 9. Thecombination as claimed in claim 8 wherein the drawer front is secured toa front of the drawer such that it is spaced a short distance from thefront of the drawer, thus leaving a space between the front of thedrawer and the rear of the drawer front at each side edge of the drawer,which spaces provide recesses on each side of the drawer with which aprojection on a clip provided on each side of the drawer engages. 10.The combination as claimed in claim 8 including means on or able to acton the latching part to enable the part to be moved between its firstand second positions.
 11. The combination according to claim 1 whereinthe spring clip is of molded construction.
 12. The combination asclaimed in claim 11, wherein the clip is formed of resilient plasticmaterial.
 13. The combination as claimed in claim 1 including means onor able to act on the latching part to enable the part to be movedbetween its first and second positions.
 14. A slide assembly for adrawer comprising: at least two slide members slidable relative to oneanother, an external one of said members being connectable to aframework and an inner one of said members being connectable to adrawer; a clip having a fixing part adapted to be connected to one ofthe inner slide member and a drawer, and a latching part having aprojection thereon adapted to engage a recess having the latchingsurface extending normal to the sliding directions of a drawer, saidrecess being located in the other of the inner slide member and adrawer, the latching part being moveable between the first position inwhich the projection engages with the recess to connect the drawer tothe inner slide member and a second position in which it is disengagedfrom the recess to allow disconnection of the drawer from the innerslide member; and wherein at least one locating tongue extends from oneof a front end of the inner slide member and a front of the drawer andengages within an aperture in the other of the inner slide member andfront of the drawer to provide vertical latching and horizontal latchingtransverse to sliding directions of the drawer, between the drawer andinner slide member.
 15. A slide assembly for a drawer comprising: atleast two slide members; at least one locating tongue extending from oneof: a front end of one of the slide members and a front of a drawer, andengaged within an aperture in the other of the one of the slide membersand front of the drawer, to provide vertical latching and horizontallatching transverse to sliding directions of the drawer, between thedrawer and respective slide member; and a clip having a fixing partadapted to be connected to one of the slide members and the drawer, anda latching part having a projection thereon adapted to engage a recesshaving a latching surface extending normal to the sliding directions ofthe drawer, said recess being located in the other of the respectiveslide member and the drawer, the latching part being moveable between afirst position in which the projection engages with the recess toconnect the drawer to the respective slide member and a second positionin which the projection is disengaged from the recess to allowdisconnection of the drawer from the respective slide member.
 16. Aslide assembly for a drawer comprising: a clip having a fixing partadapted to be connected to one of a slide member and a drawer, and alatching part having a projection thereon adapted to engage a recesshaving a latching surface extending normal to the sliding directions ofthe drawer, said recess being located in the other of the slide memberand the drawer, the latching part being moveable between a firstposition in which the projection engages with the recess to connect thedrawer to the slide member and a second position in which the projectionis disengaged from the recess to allow disconnection of the drawer fromthe slide member; and at least one locating tongue extending from one ofa front end of the slide member and a front of the drawer and engagedwithin an aperture in the other of the slide member and front of thedrawer to provide vertical latching and horizontal latching transverseto sliding directions of the drawer, between the drawer and slidemember.